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Hi Every One,
Are you having trouble getting your team to meet company goals? Is your team lacking energy, creativity and motivation? Are you stressed, overwhelmed and feeling the need to work long hours just to hold your department together? It doesn't need to be that way you can take control of the situation. You can get your team working effectively towards a common goal and you can gain back your personal time. Work is important and you want to exceed company expectations but having control of your time to pursue personal interests is just as important. You want to be there to see the kids grow up and have time for that significant other (Yes honey I meant you and not golfing)... but you also want to have time to shave a few strokes off that handicap as well. Whatever your interests are you need to find balance. Work on implementing these 10 steps and you will improve your teams performance and gain back your personal time.
1) Improve the Atmosphere
As a leader you alone have an enormous impact on the morale of the team. You set the example for your team. Not just by what you say and do but also by what you allow. Make it clear to all team members that at the work place everyone needs to be treated with dignity and respect with no exceptions. You need to be aware of how team members communicate with one another. Often their tone and body language say more than the words spoken. It is common to have 3 or 4 team members creating a negative atmosphere for the entire group. They also tend to be the same team members involved in the majority of conflicts. Don't allow it to happen. Often these team members are unaware of their impact and a quick discussion will resolve the issue. If not it becomes a performance issue.
2) Open Communication
Improving communication with your team is key to getting your time back. Always have an open door policy. Ensure that your team knows that they can come and talk to you when they have concerns. Act on those concerns quickly and get back to the team member with the action you have taken. When you do this you will create an atmosphere where the team members feel valued and as it ripples through your team you will find that you are more likely to be aware of the small problems and can take action before they become big problems. You will also see you team start to bring to your attention suggestions and ideas on how they can improve the work place.
3) Who Works for Whom?
Often management is frustrated because they see their team as not listening or following direction. Team members appear as if they are not putting much effort into their job and they keep doing tasks incorrectly. Frustrated managers say "this group just doesn't listen or seem to care." Chances are there is a reason your team is not performing at a high level. Your team cannot work for you until you work for them. How do I work for them I thought they were supposed to work for me? As a manager you need to stress the importance of proper training. You need to build that solid foundation for new hires or they will never meet your expectations. As a leader it is your job to give them every chance to succeed.
4) Attitude is Everything!
We all know as a manager we need to lead by example and come to work with a positive attitude everyday. What we fail to do is expect that same positive attitude from everyone on our team. Whether it is a management person or an hourly team member the expectation is the same. This is part of creating a great working environment. We've all experienced that team member who complains about everything and will never be happy. They are a drain on the morale and usually a source of conflict. You might think that "He does a good job otherwise. That's just who he is." But that's not fair to the rest of your team. They deserve to be in a positive environment. You need to let any negative team members know how they are impacting the team and what your expectation is. You may also need to deal with this as a performance issue. It is easy to look at the results of their work and say they are a great employee but if they can't interact with your team in a positive manner you will be continually resolving conflicts.
5) Who Knows More?
Often as managers we think we need to be the source of all the ideas. The truth is we just need to get the best ideas implemented and if you are not listening to your team member's suggestions and ideas you not using the best. You probably have people that work in a specific area of the business everyday. They are the experts of that part of the business. This goes back to the open communication. You need to encourage your team to continually think about how they can improve their part of the business and to share that with the management team. When you start to act on just a few of their suggestions you will see the momentum build.
6) You Need Successors
If you want to save yourself time, help build your business for the future and impress the executives you need to have successors. What is a successor? They are the people that you and your management team identify as having potential to advance in the organization but to be successful it goes a lot further than just identifying them. As a manager one of your most important responsibilities is to be able to grow your people. You will stand out from the other managers when you are able to provide qualified people for available positions within the organization.
7) Delegate
When you delegate effectively it frees up your time to focus on the big picture aspects of the job and be more effective. It may even allow you enough time to get an extra round of golf in each week. Many managers hang onto to many tasks because they are easy and they feel comfortable doing them, or they think they can get it done faster than someone else. You need to look at what you do on a daily basis and ask yourself is this task something I personally need to do? Does this task add value or could I benefit the organization better by focusing my attention elsewhere?
It is easy to get caught up in the day to day routine but your job as a manager is to be focused on the big picture and make your business more profitable. Sometimes delegating might take additional time in the beginning if you have to train someone but once you're through the training you may never have to complete that task again. Think of the time you'll save. Usually the person you are delegating to welcomes learning a new responsibility. Pick some of your successors to delegate to. It will also help with their development. When people stop learning and growing they look for other employment where they can grow. Delegating new responsibilities to the right people will keep them learning and free up your time.
8) Planning
Even though you have freed yourself up of some of the time consuming daily responsibilities by delegating you still find yourself running from one fire to the next to keep your department going. Now that you have some extra time you can even resolve many of these daily distractions that take you away from the big picture. You need to drill down and find the root cause of these fires that keep popping up. You'll find most of them can be avoided if you dig deep enough and develop long term solutions rather than just throwing a bit of water on it today.
9) Hold Them Accountable
Holding team members accountable can be the hardest part of the job but it is absolutely necessary. Many managers allow poor performers to continue because they are uncomfortable confronting people but if you allow poor performance to go unchecked you may soon end up with an entire team of poor performers. Other members recognize when people aren't pulling their weight and maybe not all but some will say "if he doesn't have to do anything why should I?"
10) Have Fun
You want people to enjoy their work by providing a challenging job in a great atmosphere but most people spend more of their awake hours at the office than they do at home so you also need to encourage your team to have some fun. Try scheduling 1 hour a month for a fun activity for the entire team if possible. Have the management team join in. It is a great way for the team to get to know you in a more relaxed atmosphere. This doesn't have to be extra work for you. You can have a fun committee plan each event and even use a successor to plan and organize it to help in their development.
Best Regards.................
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